The Tale of Two Asians
by A Scarlet Rebel
Summary: Mike and Tina had been the best of friends in their childhood. They told each other everything. But somewhere along the line... the two grew apart.
1. Prologue

_If I generate enough interest in this story idea, I will write it over the summer. If not, I'll probably still end up writing it. And I want to know what everyone thinks first of this idea._

**The Tale of Two Asians**

**Prologue**

They had been the best of friends. They had told each other everything. But somewhere along the line, the two grew apart.

. . .

Tina Cohen-Chang and Mike Chang, the two Asians of the Glee club, had grown up on the same street in their childhood. Their families had known each other, so they saw a lot of one another. Tina and Mike have known each other since they were practically in diapers, for that matter.

In elementary school, they constantly saw each other, mainly because of their families. And in that time… they had become close friends. You know… the kind of childhood friend you used to play hop scotch and truth or dare with… keeping each other's small secrets… always having someone to lean on.

And when they got to middle school, they stood up for each other, Mike being the only one at school who _knew_ that Tina was faking her stutter. However, he kept her secrets and she kept his.

But, once they hit high school, and cliques started to kick in, they found themselves intertwined in different interests… and growing apart.

Tina was shy, and tended to dress like she was goth. She could also be a bit of a nerd. And Mike wanted to try out for football, making him the center of attention and one of the jocks who made fun of people like Tina.

Even though they held onto their friendship for as long as they could in freshman year, they still drifted apart.

And then, a year later, Glee club brought them together again. Somehow, they managed to salvage their friendship, and the two discovered that they had a lot more in common than they used to think.

This is the story of Mike and Tina's friendship, starting all the way from the beginning….


	2. First Glimpse

**Chapter 1:**

**First Glimpse**

Joyce Cohen-Chang held a small baby girl in her arms: Her daughter. Little Tina Cohen-Chang had come into the world only two weeks ago, weighing 7.2 pounds and with a small head of black hair.

The baby lay asleep in her arms, snoring softly, her cheeks a rosy red color. Mrs. Cohen-Chang smiled at the little girl, glad that her only daughter had finally arrived, happy and healthy.

After she had finished rocking her in her arms, she set the baby down in her crib and let her sleep. With one last smile in goodbye at the small girl, Mrs. Cohen-Chang stepped out of the room.

She walked to the kitchen, going to pour herself a glass of water after a tiring day to find her husband sitting at the kitchen table, reading some mail. The two happy parents of the small baby girl were both in their late twenties and living in their own house in Lima, Ohio. Both worked their own jobs, and were perfectly happy living in the small town.

Once she had made it to the kitchen and stepped in front of the fridge, he asked with an air of concern, "Joyce… how is she?"

She breathed a sigh of exhaustion. "She's fine, Will… at least she's finally asleep."

He smiled at his wife and chuckled. "Yeah, she does tend to cry a lot at night. But she's a baby. What did you expect, for Tina to go to sleep with any struggle at all?"

Joyce opened her mouth to reply, but the ring of the doorbell interrupted her.

"Oh, that must be Katherine," Joyce declared excitedly.

"Katherine's coming?" Will asked, sounding a little annoyed. "I thought it was going to be just me, you and the baby today. Aren't you tired of everyone coming to see Tina all of this week, making such a fuss over the little girl?"

"Well, I wanted Katherine to come over and bring Mike, her little boy," she said, making her way towards the living room and over to the door. "And besides… she's my best friend and she hasn't even seen the baby yet."

"Fine," he surrendered, picking up that day's newspaper to read and abandoning the bills that rested on the table.

Once Joyce got to the door, she looked through the peep hole to see a woman and her husband, both Asian looking, with a little baby boy in her arms.

Quickly, Joyce opened the door, swallowing her friend with welcomes and hugs.

"Congratulations!" the woman at the door said, almost bouncing up and down from the excitement. "Now we're both parents!"

"Hey, Katherine!" she exclaimed, hugging her tightly. "I'm so glad you could come!"

"Me too," she said happily. "And I'm sorry I couldn't make it the day of the delivery of the baby. Of course I had to be out of town the day of my best friend's baby was born-"

"You know what?" Joyce started. "That's fine. At least you're here now! Come on in; she's asleep in the nursery."

The two women walked to the other side of the house where the room was, both conversing on the way.

"So, is this little Mike?" Joyce asked in her baby voice, causing the little boy to smile.

"Yes, he's actually grown a little bit, even though he's just four months old," Katherine said, bouncing the boy up and down with her hands, making him giggle.

"Well, he's certainly gotten a lot bigger than the last time I saw him," Joyce said, right as they approached the door of the room.

Joyce stepped in first, leading the way for Katherine. She walked to the crib, smiling down at Tina's sleeping body.

"Aw… is that her?" Katherine asked, looking at the baby in awe. "Oh… Joyce, she's so beautiful."

Katherine suddenly lifted Mike up from when he lay in her arms to the side of the crib. The little boy first looked around, as if wondering what to do next. Then he looked down at the tiny girl in the crib and started making gurgly noises, like saying, _'Look! There's another baby in there!'_

Katherine smiled at her son's amusement at the other small person, then turned to Joyce.

"Should I-?"

"Oh, go ahead! You can put Mike in the crib, its fine." Joyce responded to Katherine's unasked question.

Katherine hesitantly raised Mike and dropped him into the crib. She set him down a safe three inches away from the sleeping baby, knowing that he'd probably wake her up.

The little boy looked up at his mother in wonder, his growing black hair partially covering his tiny forehead. The two mothers smiled at the little children in the crib.

"Look at them," Katherine started with a small laugh. "They look so much alike, that the only way you could tell them apart is because her head a little bit rounder than Mike's."

Joyce laughed too and smiled, feeling her heart swell with joy. Finally, those nine months of up and downs had paid off. Now… she knew that her suffering, ankle-swellings, cravings, and mood swings had all been for a reason. The only thing that put her at peace was the picture of Tina, sound asleep and serene in her crib.

"What did you say you named her?" Katherine questioned. "Was it… Tasha?"

"Tina," Joyce corrected her with a grin.

"Oh, right," Katherine said sheepishly, embarrassed that she hadn't managed to remember her best friend's baby's name. "I knew it started with a T."

Mike looked all around the crib, as if looking for the little baby he saw earlier. When he spotted Tina, he gurgled and squealed, as if happy that now he had a friend to play with.

Tina's small eyes opened and she breathed deeply through her nose, waking up because of Mike's shrieks. She looked around, no part of her body moving except her eyes. When she spotted Mike, she merely looked at him in wonder, her eyes wide.

"Okay, I think I should take Mike out, now," Katherine announced. "He's already woken Tina up; I don't want him to make her cry or something."

She dipped her hands into the crib and scoped Mike out. He made noises in protest, but quieted down after a little bit.

After the little exchange and Katherine _and _Mike's first glimpses at the new baby, Katherine gave Joyce and her husband gifts for Tina that she was not able to bring earlier. And Mike just sat on his mother's lap the whole time… his thumb in his mouth, hardly knowing that that's where their story began, with a simple first glimpse.


	3. Eight Years Later

**Chapter 2:**

**Eight Years Later**

And after that first glance when the two were merely babies, the two mother arranged play date after play date, sealing the two as friends. Well, they saw each other often enough to be considered friends.

One day, eight years after the official first meeting, Tina sat on her bed in her room, brushing the hair of one of her Barbie dolls. She was humming a mindless and random tune that had just popped into her head while the commercials played on the television that was on in front of her.

Suddenly, her mother opened the door, causing Tina to stop humming.

"Tina," her mother began, stepping into the doorway, "change out of your pajamas and into some clothes."

"But, why?" Tina whined, crossing her arms. She scrunched up her face in a look of distaste. "I want to stay home and watch TV."

Joyce groaned at her stubborn daughter, and then pleaded, "Come on, Tina… please?"

"No!" came Tina's simple reply, shaking her head and sticking out her lower lip.

"But we're going over to Mike's house," her mother explained. "Don't you want to go play with Mike?"

Tina unfolded her arms and considered for a second. "Well… maybe-"

"That's the spirit!" Joyce exclaimed. "Now, hurry. We're leaving in thirty minutes, okay, Tina?"

"Alright," Tina said in defeat.

Once her mother had left the room, she moved toward her dresser, still not fascinated at the fact that she had to leave the warm and familiar sanctuary of her house. But still… she _did_ want to see Mike. The two hadn't seen each other in nearly a month.

After she was done getting dressed, and after her mother brushed her hair, they headed off to the Chang residence in their family van.

Tina smiled, feeling better when they pulled into the driveway. Suddenly the day was starting to look brighter for her.

She nearly leaped out of the car once her dad had stopped it completely and put it in park. Tina scurried up the stairs in front of the house and rang the doorbell, her parents trailing behind her.

Mrs. Chang came to the door, smiling at Tina and her parents.

"Hi, Tina!" she exclaimed, giving the small girl in a loving hug. "Look at you! Pretty soon you'll be all grown up!"

Tina laughed and responded, "Nice to see you, too, Mrs. Chang."

The woman grinned and let Tina skip past her and head inside the house she had seen so many times before. She turned to her parents instead.

"I'm so glad you guys could come," she said, escorting them in.

Meanwhile, Tina looked around the house, mindlessly wandering… waiting to crash into Mike or find him sitting in the living room.

She walked all around, shouting, "Mike! Mike! Mike? _Mike_?"

Tina sighed and continued looking around, knowing Mike was around there somewhere.

"Mike? Mi-?"

In the middle of calling his name, Tina felt something go over her head and cover her eyes, leaving her unable to see. It felt like a piece of cloth.

Tina cried out in surprise and fear, but her cry was silenced by a hand suddenly covering her mouth.

"Shh…," was the only thing the person behind her said, not even giving away their identity.

Then, just as Tina was ready to lick her attacker's hand, she felt herself leaving the ground as the mystery person behind her picked her up off of the ground.

She screamed, which was muffled by the hand, and kicked as she was taken a short distance away from where she had been before. And then, Tina heard a laugh from behind her.

The hand over her mouth was removed and wrapped around her waist with the other hand, and a cry came from her back, "Surprise!"

"Mike!" Tina yelled, kicking around harder as she hung still suspended off the ground, still unable to see anything but black.

"How do you like my surprise?" He laughed harder and lifted Tina up higher, enjoying the anger he was causing her.

Tina scrunched up her face in fury and responded, "I hate it! Put me down! This isn't funny!"

That only made Mike laugh harder. "Yeah, it is!"

"Ahhh!"

Mike sighed in defeat, the sweet taste of his victory wearing off. "Fine, I'll untie the blindfold and set you down.

"Thank you," Tina said, relieved.

He set her down, removed his hands from where they were wrapped around her waist, and began to untie the small and loose knot that held the cloth over her eyes.

Tina sighed in complete relief, her adrenaline rush subsiding.

Mike stepped in front of her and smiled. "Well, you're finally here!"

Tina took and deep breath and smiled. "Yeah…," she began. "And now I'm going to get you!"

Mike's smiled disappeared as he quickly ran to the left to dodge an angry and revenge seeking Tina that had just lunged at him.

As Mike ran from Tina, dodging into the backyard and running around in circles in attempt to confuse her, Tina smiled an evil smiled and pumped forward. She grabbed the back of his shirt and threw him onto the ground.

Once Mike had landed on the ground, groaning in pain, Tina grinned in conquest and happily sat on his ribs.

"Ow!" Mike yelled in pain, trying to slap her off of his stomach. "Get… off… Tina!" he screamed, his breath leaving his lungs slowly.

"No!" she said, laughing and poking stomach.

"Stop!" he managed to say. "This… is… so _uncool!"_

"I don't care! Since when do _I_ care about cool or uncool?" Tina exclaimed.

Mike squirmed and kicked, not having the breath or energy left to scream at Tina.

Tina found his struggle amusing, and laughed, bouncing up and down on his stomach.

After a little bit of torture, Mike caught Tina off guard and threw her off of him.

While both of them lay there on the ground, Mike trying to restore his lungs with the breath he was sure had left him for good, both of their mothers walked into the backyard and looked at them strangely.

"What are you guys doing?" Joyce asked as Katherine laughed at the two.

But instead of responding, both kids just laughed their heads off, rolling around on the ground with hilarity. They didn't really know what they were laughing at, but it seemed as if the yard had suddenly been invaded by laughing gas, making them chuckle about their childish joking.

Once both mothers receded back into the house and their laughter faded into giggles, Mike was the first to regain his composure completely and stand up. Tina followed his lead, standing up and brushing the dirt off of her shorts.

Mike smiled and said, "Race you up to the tree house?"

Tina looked up at the old tree house in the tree that stood tall nearly in the very back of the yard. She grinned at him.

"You're on!"


End file.
